Natrona County Man Arrested After Leaving His Phone at Crime Scene

A man was arrested outside Casper on Wednesday after allegedly burglarizing a construction lot and accidentally leaving his cell phone behind.

John Clark McCallister, 34, was booked into jail on recommended charges of burglary and wrongful taking or disposing or property.

Charging papers say an investigator with the Natrona County Sheriff's Office was assigned to investigate a burglary which occurred at 71 Construction near Salt Creek Highway and Westwinds Road.

The investigator was told that an employee arrived at work on Wednesday and found that the main door to the office had been pried open, and a padlock that secured the door had been removed.

As the employee walked around the perimeter of the building, he found a cell phone lying on the ground next to the office.

The employee then went into the office and found that several keys for tool-storage buildings and keys for pieces of construction equipment had been stolen. The employee then called his supervisor.

That supervisor reported to authorities that he had been driving towards Westwinds Road and the construction site and saw a white ford pickup truck, occupied only by a male driver, heading the opposite direction. The supervisor did not recognize the driver as one of his employees, and felt it was suspicious that an unknown person would be on the dead-end road.

The supervisor saw the truck's rear license plate and reported it to investigators.

When a deputy arrived at the construction site, she determined that the cell phone found near the office did not belong to any employees of 71 Construction.

The phone was unlocked, court documents say, and the deputy -- in an effort to locate the owner of the lost property -- found a Facebook profile belonging to "JC" McCallister was connected to the phone.

The investigator, who was parked at the intersection of Wardwell Road and Salt Creek Highway, saw a white Ford pickup truck which didn't have a front license plate. As the truck turned onto Wardwell, the investigator identified the driver as McCallister, based on previous contacts with McCallister.

The investigator followed McCallister and saw that the rear license plate matched the plate described by the supervisor.

Upon stopping the truck, the investigator discovered the truck was reported stolen out of Arvada, Colorado. McCallister was arrested.

In an interview, McCallister allegedly admitted to committing the burglary at the 71 Construction site. He told the investigator that the stolen keys were in the center console of the stolen truck.

McCallister reportedly refused to explain why he stole the keys. He admitted to having received the stolen truck about a week prior, and would not name the person who gave him the truck.